The Government's proposals to alter the Rules of Proce- dure
of the House of Commons, which were introduced by Mr. Balfour on January 30th, have been discussed for prac- tically the whole of three sittings. On Thursday, February 6th, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman moved an amendment asking that the Rules should be referred to a Select Committee. He claimed that he criticised the new proposals in no party spirit: he was merely anxious that the functions and poten- tialities of the Grand Inquest of the nation should not be lowered or lessened. In particnla•r, he objected to the requiring of an apology to the Speaker from a Member who had been punished by suspension. " Punishment if you like, and apology if you like, but surely not punishment and apology." Mr. Chamberlain, in reply, urged that when Mr. Gladstone introduced drastic proposals for reform of proce- dure in 1882 those proposals were considered, not by a Select Committee, but by a Committee of the whole House. Mr. John Redmond, who followed, of course felt it his duty to claim that Separation was the real panacea for existing diffi- culties. His peroration in favour of Home-rule was the " Selah " which the Nationalist Member cannot deny himself.
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